Feb. 7, 2024, marks the 28th annual National Girls and Women in Sports Day, a global movement that aims to inspire and encourage young girls and women around the world to get active, play sports and break boundaries.

But the barriers are real. There are societal prejudices and fewer opportunities for girls to get into sports—and even more stereotypes about Jews as un-athletic, giving young Jewish girls twice as many hurdles to overcome.

Chelsey Goldberg knows those hurdles firsthand. Growing up in California, her only option to play hockey was to play in a local boys’ league, eventually rising the ranks of women’s hockey to play professionally in Canada and the United States. She spent years lobbying the Maccabiah Games to create a women’s hockey division—a fight she won in 2022, when she became the captain for Team USA at the Maccabiah, winning silver. Goldberg joins Menschwarmers co-host James for a frank talk about the value of sports for women and girls and what the future looks like.

Plus, Gabe and James take a deep dive into the keffiyeh controversy that overtook the recent NHL All-Star Game in Toronto, in which the singer of the national anthem wore a piece of clothing that vaguely resembled a keffiyeh. And we respond to a few listeners to wrote in after our last episode about Jewish NHL players.

Credits

Menschwarmers is hosted by James Hirsh and Gabe Pulver, and produced and edited by Michael Fraiman. Our intro music is by Coby Lipovitch, and our outro music is “Organ Grinder Swing” by chēēZ π. This show is a member of The CJN Podcast Network. Follow the Menschwarmers on Twitter @menschwarmers or TikTok @menschwarmers. Support the show by subscribing to this podcast or donating to The CJN.